Crafting the Sweetest Life: August 2018

This dining room set made my heart so happy! I had to start with the "completed" photos, because I love the end result! I have done pieces of furniture around my house: a desk, tv console, end table. But have never done such big pieces and even though all these pieces came from different places, it feels like a whole dining room collection.

Let's start with this BEAUTIFUL art deco buffet. When I see a piece of furniture that I want to redo, I have to fall in love with it. I usually see it on the internet or at a sale, and it is usually love at first sight and I HAVE to have the piece of furniture. So, one evening on my usual run, I found this buffet sitting on the curb (I KNOW)!! I ran the rest of my route as fast as possible, got home, and pulled my husband to the car to pick it up immediately. I didn't know what I was going to do with it exactly, but loved the inlaid wood, the handles, the details of the door, and the waterfall top. I am usually a contemporary modern girl, but I love this art deco piece! I ended up painting it this great gray color. I have used it previously, and it works so well with wood tones. It has a very small touch of brown, and I feel it goes well with wood tones, gold accents and oil-aged bronze accents as well. It was an impulse to paint the cut-out areas, which ended up being a little more difficult, but I think visually it really paid off.

The whole dining set together. Decided to keep the wood tones from the chairs. The owner of the set picked out the fabric for the chairs, and it picks up the gray perfectly.

View from above. The table received a sanding, two coats of primer (Zinnser), 2 coats of HGTV Showcase Primer and Paint and 2 coats of Minwax Polycrilic Protective Finish. A lot of coats, a lot of sanding. But well worth it!

All the chairs received a good scrub, and orange oil. They were all re-upholstered, with an extra layer of batting. These chairs were definitely from the 50's, and had multiple layers of fabric on them, with what felt like a million staples. I love the pattern the owner chose, especially that I really didn't have to line anything up, it made it much easier to re-upholster.

Here are the chairs with the table. The mahogany chairs go well with the natural wood of the buffet table. I delivered the table after the buffet was already in the house, so I was worried/curious if I made the right decision in keeping them natural. Greg suggested I paint them black, I am so glad I didn't!

The picture below was a frustrating part of the table refinishing process. I used the wrong polyurethane, and it left a horrible yellow tint to the top. I had to sand it all off, with a layer of gray. The silver lining was Greg felt so bad for me, he purchased an awesome orbital sander for me! I had been borrowing sanding tools from family and friends, now I finally own one!

Original seat fabric

New seat cover

Below is the pedestal table that was purchased by the owner. She said it reminded her of her grandparent's dining table. I covered up the details of the wood work on the skirt of the table to update a little bit. Then, sanded everything down. The table was actually in great condition.

The table after a few coats of primer. The heat was a big factor in painting. You shouldn't paint in 90 degree heat, and you REALLY shouldn't paint in 105 degree heat. The primer was drying so fast, I had to work very quickly and not mess up at all. I made sure to at least wait 24 hours between each coat of paint and varnish, which was really hard for me, because I usually rush painting. But I knew I really wanted it to set and cure correctly.

Here are some extra pics of the art deco buffet before it left my garage. It really was a beautiful piece, if we had any form of formal dining room I would have kept it.

Side Note: We never asked for/received fancy china or silverware for our wedding. So, what would I have put in it?? I couldn't let it go to waste on me.